Abstract:
Teacher education and development in the Philippines face serious challenges, including underperforming teacher education institutions (TEIs), inadequate and often misguided professional development systems, and an unclear career progression track. A particular concern grows with the persistently low average passing rates in Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET) indicating that underperforming TEIs dominate teachers' production, crowding out the graduates from better-performing TEIs. This study investigates the pre-service aspect of teacher quality, aiming to determine the indicators of quality in teacher education. Guided by the Teacher Development Pathway Model and Total Quality Management (TQM) principles, the study determines quality indicators in teacher education, reviews whether these indicators are captured in the existing quality assessment/assurance (QA) systems and processes, and identifies gaps and challenges encountered by QA bodies and TEIs related to QA. Achieving these involved conducting desk reviews and facilitating key informant interviews and focus group discussions with representatives of teacher education institutions, government agencies, and accrediting bodies. Several research themes emerged showing a lack of incentive for teacher education and misalignment of frameworks and standards. Input Quality Indicators found in pre-service teacher education include QA Standards and System, Faculty Qualifications, Learning Resources and Facilities, Research Programs, and Curriculum and Instruction. Incentivizing teacher education, boosting teachers' professional morale, and reviewing quality monitoring policies are among the recommendations of the report.